Novel directions in adjuvant chemotherapy for early stage epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

Treatment of early stage ovarian cancer remains controversial despite advances in chemotherapeutic options. Over the past 30 years, molecular and clinicopathologic studies accelerated and treatment of ovarian cancer has undoubtedly improved although there is a debate as to whether this impacts outcome or not. More recently, the introduction of targeted therapy started a new era. Probably it is because early stage disease comprises a small portion of the epithelial ovarian cancer, studies have mostly ignored this group and still there is no clear consensus regarding systemic treatment of early-stage lesions. However this group of patients has the best chance of cure. In this review, we focus on current developments in the treatment of early stage ovarian cancer and query the options.